The music was compact, coherent, and beautifully laid out for the ensemble . . .this work has fluency and a goodsense of what to do with the given instruments; it should stand up well under second and third hearings.

Frank Peters, St Louis Post-Dispatch, 16 May, 1979

THREE SONGS WITH GUITAR(1989) c.10'

voice and guitar

1. A dream within a dream (A.E.Poe) 2. Night (W. Soyinka) 3. If the owl calls again (J.Haines)

[Rhian Samuel’s] Three Songs with Guitaris a beautiful, crystalline work, which could be sung either by a soprano,mezzo-soprano, or tenor. . . The songs are wonderfully contrasted in mood and would be an interesting addition to any program

. Sharon Mabry, NATS Journal,(USA) Sept/Oct 1989

THREE YEATS SONGS(1968 rev. 2017) (W.B.Yeats) 5½'

medium voice & flute

1. Had I the Heavens'
Embroidered Cloths 2. He and She 3. Sweet Dancer

[Samuel’s settings] are dazzlingly
inventive, maybe more akin to a flute sonata with added voice, than songs
with added flute, but all the more
interesting for it. The first song,‘Trinity at Low Tide’, toys with the poem’s
concept of reflection, each of the four
lines (the left and right hands of the piano are divided) fading in and out of
unison, mirroring each other,
overlapping and parting to create a ripple of texture. ‘Without Me’ is sparse –
at times distant, at others harsh, even jarring.
In ‘Vertigo’, the voice interjects between the flute’s dizzying pyrotechnics prevented from falling into Stevenson’s
‘naked abyss’ of the mind by the grounding left hand of the piano. These songs
are a virtuoso display for all
involved and not least from the composer whose intricate writing matches
Stevenson’s deep yet concise
poetry.

A brief work of fantasy and drama for female voice
and brass quintet. Primarily a traditional use of the voice witha wide vocal range, large leaps, great dramatic
contrasts, and two sudden outbursts of pitched shouting that encompasses only the head voice range. Requires a
voice capable of easily achieving enough vocal power to match the
instruments.